《Scarlet Letter》

Book Description The Wordsworth Classics covers a huge list of beloved works of literature in English and translations. This growing series is rigorously updated, with scholarly introductions and notes added to new titles. This work is a troubling story of crime, sin, guilt, punishment and expiation, set in the rigid moral climate of 17th-century New England. The young mother of an illegitimate child confronts her Puritan judges, as she suffers a harsh sentence and the guilt as her lover is revealed. The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature Novel by Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. It is considered a masterpiece of American literature and a classic moral study. The novel is set in a village in Puritan New England. The main character is Hester Prynne, a young woman who has borne an illegitimate child. Hester believes herself a widow, but her husband, Roger Chillingworth, returns to New England very much alive and conceals his identity. He finds his wife forced to wear the scarlet letter A on her dress as punishment for her adultery. Chillingworth becomes obsessed with finding the identity of his wife's former lover. When he learns that the father of Hester's child is Arthur Dimmesdale, a saintly young minister who is the leader of those exhorting her to name the child's father, Chillingworth proceeds to torment the guilt-stricken young man. In the end Chillingworth is morally degraded by his monomaniacal pursuit of revenge; Dimmesdale is broken by his own sense of guilt, and he publicly confesses his adultery before dying in Hester's arms. Only Hester can face the future bravely, as she plans to take her daughter Pearl to Europe to begin a new life. From AudioFile In the early days of Puritan Boston Hester Prynne braves the stigma of adultery by wearing the embroidered scarlet "A" on her clothing. Hill's reading captures the story's pathos and gives the reader empathy for the characters while clarifying Hawthorne's views. Hill distinctly portrays each character and reads the narration clearly and swiftly. The pace conveys a sense of urgency and breathlessness. After hearing this novel, readers will understand why it continues to be a classic. P.A.J. About Author Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1865) was born in Salem, Massachusetts, where he wrote short stories of American colonial history. Book Dimension : length: (cm)19.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.6